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Jo C., Barrister

Category: Law

Satisfied Customers: 71041

Experience: Over 5 years in practice

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I pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering in 2011.This

Customer Question

I pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering in 2011.This was in relation to a waste management offence & the Environment Agency were the prosecutors in the case. For this crime i was sentanced to 18 months prison. In 2012 i had a confiscation hearing & paid in full my realisable asset order. The bennefit figure was just over 900,000k, & my relalisable assets were about 9k. I was told by my barrister after the case that any money i earned legally, (paid tax on it) or was loaned could not be touched. However, if i was fortunate enough to win the lotto or left a big inheritance i would have to hand it over. In February of this year i was stopped going through security at Gatwick Airport on route to Ireland to buy a van. I had £8000 cash on me & when searched the cash investigation team were called & seized it on me until i could prove where it came from. It was a loan from my parents & they provided bank statements, p60's, wage slips etc. Last week the Police informed me that they were happy to return it to me as they done all the relevent checks & everything was fine with the legitamacy of the money. Today however i was informed that the Environment Agency have made a 'section 22 application' to the crown Court to confiscate the money & put it towards my benefit figure. The Police officer told me this is the first in its kind. Is this true? Secondly, are they allowed to do this to me?

I know this isn’t going to be the answer you want to hear, and it’s certainly not what I want to tell you. However, I wish to be completely honest with you, so I feel obligated to not give you false hope.

They are basically asking the Court to recalculate the original order. You will find the section and the power here

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/29/section/22

It is fair to say that its not a common application but the power does exist unfortunately. Its not the first of its kind but its not a normal application.

Obviously though if its a loan not a gift then it should not really be included in the benefit figure and you can defend on that basis. Your parents will probably need to add themselves as interest parties to the action and give evidence of the origin of the money and your proposals to repay it.

I'm sorry this isn't the answer you wanted but it is the position that you face and I have a duty to inform you truthfully.

So will the judge give them the green light to proceed with the application or is there a chance he/she might throw it ou,t without it going to trial? Yes it was a loan & not a gift, my parents live in Ireland would they have to come over to give evidence if it went to trial?

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